My name is Dave Rosenberg. I was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1975 and moved to Long Island with my mom and stepfather when I was 5 years old. My stepfather was a wealthy doctor with a big house, fancy cars, pool parties and all the trappings of “The America Dream”. But the reality was a nightmare. My stepfather resented me because my mom put almost all of her attention on me and not him. 

One night, as an 11 or 12-year-old boy, I made a comment at dinner that he didn’t like. And when my mom went out, he came into my room, closed the door, held out his rather large fist in my face and said, “If you ever do that again…I will kill you”. I’m not sure if he meant it, but he did have a gun in the house which he shot off once inches away from my mom and little sister. So, in essence, I grew up in a house with a legitimate bully who scared the living daylights out of this little boy that was me.

Meanwhile, in school, I had been the most popular kid in the most popular friend group. We used to terrorize the mean streets of Cedarhurst in the Five Towns of Long Island. We all wore blue denim jean jackets and called ourselves “The Studs”. I loved these guys. They were my best friends. Between 6th and 7th grade, I went away to sleepaway camp. And when I got back, no one would talk to me. 

First day of junior high school, I got off the bus and walked over to my friends in the middle of this long line. My former friend, and later nemesis, stepped out of the line, knocked my books out of my hands and said, “I heard you were talking shit about me.” I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about. Then another “friend” stepped out and said, “We don’t want to be friends with you anymore.” I was stunned, shocked, frozen, traumatized. I took a long, sad walk to the back of the line and I felt like there was a huge sign on my back that said, “LOSER”. Everyone in school said I got “Dissed”. This led to a year of physical, emotional and psychological torture that I wouldn’t wish on any kid. 

About 15 years later, now an actor in my 20’s in NYC, I was eating lunch at COSI Restaurant near Union Square, when I saw my childhood nemesis walk by. I froze in terror. All of the traumatic feelings and images from childhood returned in a flash. I had been having nightmares about this guy for over a decade. And there he was in the flesh. I imagined going after him and seeking revenge. I’m glad I didn’t! Instead, I spoke to 2 of my closest actor friends. Dinh, a soft-spoken Vietnamese man said, “You have to write about this.” And my best friend Andrea, a former Australian kickboxer said, “You need to confront this guy.” I set about doing both. I started writing a screenplay about an actor on a spiritual journey with his Buddhist mentor who runs into his childhood nemesis and is challenged by his best friend, a NYC cop with an Australian accent, to confront him at their high school reunion.

About 15 years later, in June of 2019, we shot “The Reunion” in and around Union Square. It was a cathartic and miraculous experience. I starred in the film with my friends Dinh and Andrea (we also produced) and our mentor at HB Studio, Austin Pendleton. The film went on to win 2 Best Picture Awards, 2 Best Actor Awards, and a Best Screenplay Award at various festivals around the country. We premiered at the Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles and got picked up by Gravitas Ventures for domestic distribution and by the Cardinal Sales Agency for foreign distribution. The movie is now streaming on popular platforms like Amazon, I-Tunes and Google Play. It’s the proudest thing I’ve ever done in my life. You can check out “The Reunion” through our movie website at www.thereunionfilm.com.

Meanwhile, for the last 9 years, I’ve been teaching English, Social Studies, Film and Theater to middle school kids in the inner-city of Los Angeles. I’ve had the opportunity to witness bullying from a different perspective and it’s been revelatory. I’ve come to realize  that the “victims” often feel like they are alone and that no one can possibly understand them, let alone help them. 

The reality is that many, if not most kids are going through bullying or social drama in one form or another, and there are many people young and old, who are there and willing to help. I’ve also realized that oftentimes the “bullies” are going through as much pain, or worse, than the “victims”. They have often experienced some form of trauma or abuse at home and are acting in the only way they know how to survive and feel safe. They are living in a paradigm of “survival of the fittest” where the weakest don’t survive, and so they must fight. These “bullies” simply need to be introduced to another way. That is why my approach is not focused on vilifying or condemning the “bullies”. That does not get to the root of the problem. The problem is that “hurt people hurt people”. And therefore, it follows that “Healed People Heal People”, and that is what I aim to do!